It's strange to not be worrying about vacation day/time off requests right now!
M & I are planning a last minute spring break trip with the kids, and have largely aligned on a road trip to Redwoods National Park, with a one day detour to Lassen National Park. I have free Hyatt nights I'd hoped to use, as they are expiring soon, but unfortunately, there are no Hyatts near either national park. Instead, we opted for inexpensive lodging nearby. I've set a target budget for the trip, to include gas, lodging & food. Let's see how we do. This will be the last spring break where both boys are available (college & high school spring breaks don't overlap), so we wanted to take advantage.
As for the free Hyatt nights, I've been wanting to do a hiking trip to Sedona, so I'm in the process of seeing if I can book a few nights there at the end of April. My mom will likely join, as we travel well together, and she's retired. ;-) I have two free nights, and the hotel is reasonable for the other three nights. I have flight credits for myself & to cover my mom, so that just leaves us with three nights at the hotel, plus food. Our activities will largely be hiking, and relaxing at the hotel. Similar to the above, I've set a target budget for the trip, and am hoping to keep things in check.
And finally, I have one free Hyatt night for a much higher end property, so I've reached out to see if I can book Carmel Valley Ranch (so nice!) at the end of June, for M's birthday. I would use the free night voucher, plus points for a second night. CVR is in driving distance to our house, so it would just be food for that trip.
I'm happy I finally went through & came up with some options to use our free nights. Originally, we were planning to use all of our hotel perks/status/points for our Turkey trip. With that canceled, and our benefits expiring before that trip will happen, we need to find creative options. But, we need to do that with budget in mind.
What, if any, travel is top of mind for you at the moment?
Doing a Transatlantic cruise to the Med next month. After that, who knows? I'd like to do a few road trips around here before we move since I don't plan on returning to this area again.
ReplyDeleteI am going on three separate trips within the next year. I have not travlled this much, in forever, if ever. Combo of air bnbs and cheap tickets. Your trips sound lovely. I am hoping for maybe a couple more small long weekend trips or another one in July when my office is closed but I have to save too.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy this time as you will get another job and be back at the wheel again!
ReplyDeleteI had a very disappointing tax return, an understatement, so am really looking creatively at any travel for the next year. I don't want to change plans though, so trying to figure out a new reduced budget, with less take home and how the gap in cash I had in my head can be made up without too much pain. Oh, yeah, and my property taxes went up another 5% from the estimate they provided late fall ( which was already a 6% increase from last year.) But, I even a homebody needs a change of scenery so I'll figure something out. Your trips sound really relaxing plus energizing at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThose are some really lovely travel plans.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Jre. I have a 30 day Amtrak pass coming that I have to use by the end of April but have a big Holiday planned for Easter so need to wait and leave after that. Yes there is such a thing, I’ve done several and 100% this would not be for everyone. I just do coach. But have loved them except last year was a cluster, in March with a train derailment, 13 hour miserable bus from New Orleans around to a running train and 2nd half of trip cancelled (if any one can recall the snow issues in the west). I had to be back for grandkids skating show ha! ! But I got a great credit thus my new pass and time limit. I love exploring everything and planning right now with for sure San Francisco, probably New York City, Charleston and Tucson. ( stay several nights and rent cars or use public transport ). I have been to most every city, most often favorite Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco. Last year before giving up loved NOL and went to Charlottesville and rented a car for a week driving to Va and NC. (Also Amtrak goes to Montreal and Vancouver). I started this after retiring, my dad had worked for the railroad and I hadn’t been on a train since I was a teen! But I cannot describe the beautiful scenery throughout the US on a train, you just sit back and absorb it all. I will say things have declined since before Covid and of course I’m older and it’s harder. This will be my first trip with my new knee too. Ouch. We have a family trip to Door County in June with all kids/grandkids. I have a road trip in May from Minnesota to Pittsburgh and plan on exploring Ohio and Amish areas. I have never been to Pittsburgh but it looks beautiful and I’m registered for a “cookie college” (which I don’t do but would like to learn). As a widow I go solo mostly and I’ve not been afraid. Although the shoes on the other foot now because my kids have me on a phone tracker ha! Actually a friend and I are driving to Wisconsin Tuesday to tour some sites. (Beer factory, cheese shops and Amish market), after a meeting in Minneapolis staying one night in Wisconsin for just a little get away.
ReplyDeleteWe are headed to Portland in a week or so, then nothing until the summer St Barth's trip. After TheHub retires we plan on a car trip across the country, but we will see if that really happens.
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